American Citizenship: The Quest for Inclusion (Tanner Lectures on Human Values)

Rating:
Summary: A short book on American citizenship
Review: "American Citizenship: The Quest for Inclusion" discusses the notions that American citizenship includes the right to vote and the right to earn. The author makes the distinction between "working" and "earning," because people can work, but not be paid for their labor. The book has a very liberal slant.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting
Review: To Judith Shklar, among all the compnents of citizenship, there are two that are most important - the right to vote, and the right to earn. In regards to the former, in her mind, the act of voting is much less important than having the right to vote, a belief starkly contrasted by Tocqueville. By earning, she means being remunerated for labor. She says that by this definition, aristocrats and beggars cannot be true citizens because they to not earn based upon their own labor; artistocrats - based upon the efforts of others, and beggars - based upon handouts from the money of others. At times, her point is very hard to find, and at other times it seems like she just goes on and on. But overall, I know more for having read it.